the awesome/terrifying freedom

maryindiana writes in:

Darling Joe La Rue,
I hate to lower the tone of the serious and interesting discussion about the roots of sexuality,but I had to share this with you in re "Liza and David" (that superfun gadabout couple for the NEW millennium!) Jimmy Kimmel had this joke " Liza Minelli and David Guest are splitting up. The couple cite the reason for the divorce as irreconcilable sexual preferences." As for the discussion I have nothing to add that hasn't been said in one form or another. I myself at the age of 4 or 5 wanted a certain male television star who shall remain nameless as it is frankly a little embarrassing now to come to the door and ask me to go away with him. I had no idea what we would do,mind you,but I knew it involved kissing. Which team you're on is decided early early EARLY! Thanks for keeping America entertained Joe!

well, if by 'america' you mean a handful of bored office staff across the country, then you're quite welcome! 'irreconcilable sexual preferences.' i love it. didn't the exact same thing happen to her mother? judy caught her new husband boffing the pool boy? mary also writes:

here's a thought..if stress is really the thing that makes males in the womb become homosexuals,shouldn't there have been a significant gay Irish community in the early 1870s? (Potato famine bairns,born around 1847..) There are lots of examples you could use throughout history. I'm not discounting it entirely, but I'm not sure it makes sense that stress is the cause..
ps- I'm a quarter Irish in case anyone wants to be offended by my example.

if you're at all familiar with the yearly controversy surrounding the new york st. patrick's day parade, you know darn well there are plenty of irish homos. but who knows why. there's plenty of homo everythings.

it's clear that a stress hormone does create gay male kids (at least in rats). what isn't clear (and maybe never will be) is the cause of that stress. first you have to define 'stress.' i just don't know enough about how this particular hormone is produced in the brain. you're right - the problem with my theory is that it presupposes a distinction between types of stress: stress caused by inability to care for numerous children, and generic stress caused by any number of outside influences.

however, it's very possible that there was a gay surge after the potato famine - it's almost impossible to know because there's virtually no documentation of a condition that didn't really even have a name before oscar wilde. not only that, it would be hard to even conduct such a survey today because definitions of sexuality are becoming more and more fluid, it takes years for someone to completely determine their sexuality, and also, how could we possibly trace the 'stress source'? sure, the vietnam war was going on during my conception, but maybe i'm just gay because my mom was having a hell of a time learning to speak english? or maybe because she stubbed her toe on the crucial 'brain formation' day?

i love that something born out of stress is called 'gay.'

i still need to come up with a theory of lesbianism. any lesbians care to contribute?